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Battle of Green Valley
The Battle of Green Valley was one of the main battles in the lead-up to the Siege of Nogales, taking place on December 27th, 2282. The battle was notable for lasting only a few hours in the morning on December 27th, with NCR and Brotherhood of Steel mechanized and airborne forces easily outmaneuvering the outnumbered Legion forces. Background Prior to the Great War of 2077, the city of Green Valley, Arizona, located south of Tuscon was a major gold and copper mining center, home to three large open pit mines. Records from the period immediately after the Great War are scarce, but it is said that the foreman of the mining operation in the town took up leadership of the town some time in the 2080s after he managed to defend the city from attacking groups of raiders, making use of the large amounts of dynamite and heavy machinery stored at the mines. From then on, the leader of the city became known as the "Foreman". During the immediately post-war period from the 2090s onwards, finding gold to be considered of no value in the survival-oriented postwar world, the population primarily traded the service of digging wells and building small dams and reservoirs. Over the years, the residents of Green Valley, known locally as the "Yellow Hats" after the yellow plastic hard hats their work crews wore, became relatively prosperous, later continuing to mine gold in small amounts and smelting into various items such as jewelry that could be traded. Green Valley was also one of the safest communities in the Wasteland, as their extensive stocks of explosives, as well as their mining vehicles, which had been armed and armored, meant raiders would not dare attack the town or their work crews. While many of the heavy machinery broke down, the "Yellow Hats" managed to keep a few of the heavy mining vehicles operational into the 2200s by cannibalizing parts from others that had broken down. The largest of these vehicles was an old Caterpillar 950, a nuclear-powered haul truck with a 300 ton capacity used in the pre-war mines, which had by this point been armored the with steel taken from other broken-down haul truck beds, the thick steel designed for withstanding large boulders being dropped into the bed proving bulletproof in its new role as an improvised tanks. This vehicle, known simply as "The Big Truck" was used used primarily for the defense of the settlement and large work crew convoys, as well as a personal transport of the foreman of the Yellow Hats during meetings with other tribes and communities, its large size being effective for intimidating raiders and hostile factions. In 2253, shortly after his conquest of Two Sun, Caesar first met with the foreman of the "Yellow Hats" under the pretext of an alliance between the two factions, though, like all other tribes and independent communities of the Arizona wasteland, Caesar intended to conquer and take over the Yellow Hats. Being aware of the reputation of Caesar's Legion, the foreman arrived in "The Big Truck", one of only a handful of still working vehicles in the possession, hoping to intimidate Caesar, who had few working vehicles and nothing of the size of the massive mining truck. Instead of being intimidated, however, Caesar realized that the Yellow Hats relied heavily on a few massive machines and pre-war explosives for defense, as well as the fact that most raiders of the region attacked in an overt "guns blazing" manner that could be easily detected and countered. For this reason, Caesar did the exact opposite, ordering Vulpes Inculta to plan a surprise night attack on the Yellow Hats. The Legion attack caught the Yellow Hats by complete surprise, with the frumentarii easily evading or eliminating the few guards on night watch and assassinating the foreman and other leaders, as well as sabotaging much of the remaining pre-war mining equipment. With the settlement leaderless and most of their defenses sabotaged, the Legion easily overwhelmed and conquered the Yellow Hats. After the victory, those that were resisted were crucified or, in some cases, crushed beneath the few mining machines that survived the Legion attack. After the fall of Green Valley, the Yellow Hats were enslaved, with many being forced to work mining gold to manufacture Legion aureus coins, while some of those that remained were forcibly recruited into the Legion, where they serves as explosives technicians or, in the case of a few, operators of the surviving machines, which included "The Big Truck", which Caesar dubbed Crocea Mors (Latin: Yellow Death), while most believed this to be a reference to the yellow paint of the machine, few realized it was actually the name of the sword of the original Julius Caesar, as few in the Legion realized its Roman inspiration. Caesar used Crocea Mors as his personal "chariot" for the campaigns in southwestern Arizona, however, as the vehicle was too large to be moved through the surviving pre-war roads through the rugged Mogollon Rim, Caesar was forced to abandon the vehicle, which was placed in Green Valley and occasionally sent on patrol around the area as a reminder of Caesar's power. After the NCR and allied forces took Two Sun in December, 2282, Green Valley was defended by only about 300 Legionaries, with most of the Legion forces in the area having been transported to Two Sun in the failed defense of the city, where most were subsequently killed or captured. Encirclement Maneuver NCR air raids on Green Valley began on December 11th, in the latter stages of the siege of Two Sun, with F80 fighter jets and Vertibird gunship launching attacks on Legion troops moving to reinforce the Legion forces in Two Sun. After Two Sun fell, air attacks were launched on road blocks and other fortifications, including the Legion lookout position on Keystone peak, a mountain to the west of Green Valley. NCR and Brotherhood aircraft were instructed not to attack targets near the mine pits, as the Legion held their slaves in the center of the pits, that Legionaries on the rim could fire down on any attempted rebellions. The Legion eventually figured this out and placed their troop barracks and the few remaining vehicles the pits, to avoid being targeted. The NCR and Brotherhood did not step up air attack prior to the assault to maintain the element of surprise. The plan of attack, derived by General Ignacio Ramirez and Senior Paladin Jacob Wright of the California branch of the Brotherhood, called for the Brotherhood to launch a surprise Vertibird-borne attack on Legion positions on Keystone Peak and the Southwest pit, the westernmost and southernmost of the three open pit mines in the area. At the same time, NCR mechanized and armored forces would attack the North Pit and the town of Sahuarita, before both forces converged on the Central Pit and the city of Green Valley from the west, north, and east, with NCR armor completing the encirclement around the city. Keystone Peak and the West Pit The attack was launched at first light at 0645 hours, just as the sun was beginning to rise, with the Brotherhood airborne forces attacking first. The first target was Keystone Peak, which housed most of the few remaining Legion artillery pieces in the area. As this was a surprise attack, there was to be no opening bombardment. The first sign the Legion heard of the Brotherhood forces arrival was the sound of the Vertibird rotors. Some Legionaries attempted to fire at the aircraft with small arms, but in the low light conditions, they could not fire accurately enough to do significant damage, while night vision equipment of the Brotherhood Vertibirds allowed them to accurately direct Gatling Laser, minigun, and rocket fire at Legion forces, allowing power armor units to land and eliminate any stragglers. The attack was over within 10 minutes of the first shots fired, with all of the guns on the summit either neutralize any stragglers. At the same time, a second flight of Vertibirds attacked the Legion forces at the old processing plant near the Southwest Pit. Here the Legionaries were likewise caught by surprised, with the first salvo from a Vertibird gunship striking the pre-war mining truck known as Crocea Mors, destroying the two machine gun turrets on the top of the modified bed, and heavily damaging the bed itself, though the cabin and engine were not directly hit and impressively, survived. The vehicle would later be taken by as a war trophy. As the Legion were not expecting an attack, Crocea Mors was essentially a stationary position, with the turrets manned as was standard watch procedure, but had no driver. The Vertibird gunships would suppress other Legion positions as the transport unloaded power armor units, the Vertibirds flying low enough that the built-in inertial dampers in the power armor allowed the Brotherhood power armor units to jump straight from the aircraft to the ground. As the old ore processing facility covered a large area, it took far longer for Brotherhood forces clear, as it provided ample hiding places for Legionaries. The processing facility took about 30 minutes to secure completely, most of which involved chasing down small groups of Legionaries hiding in the facility, the far superior armor and firepower of the Brotherhood meant only two of their number were KIA and a further six wounded. The Legion garrison of 40 or so guards suffered 32 KIA and the remaining 8 captured, six of them with injuries. After the processing plant on the rim was secured, the slave holding area at the bottom was secured and the slaves rescued. The North Pit and Sahuarita At 0700 hours, NCR forces of the Third Mechanized and First Armored Divisions deployed to attack the northernmost of the three pre-war open pit mines launched an assault from the north and northeast, their first targets being a line of Legion defenses placed on piles of pre-war mining waste, some of which were up to 300 feet high, as well as the roadblock on I-19. The first contact involved 11 vehicles, all of them repurposed pre-war civilian vehicles, including three armored mining machines and eight "technicals"- armed pick-up trucks. While the larger armored mining trucks had steel chains hanging from the front to act as "slat armor" to intercept shaped charge rockets, and were armored against machine gun fire, they proved ineffective against the heavy guns of NCR tanks. As soon as the first heavy mining truck was hit by a discarding sabot round from an M56 Main Battle Tank and exploded with far greater force than was to be expected, it became apparent the purpose of this attack- having been alerted to the oncoming attack by the sound of the Brotherhood aerial insertion to the west, the Legion forces had readied three weapons. Centurion Ferrus, commander of the base and a former member of the "Yellow Hats", had prepared for use in the event of an NCR attack- three 40 ton capacity mining trucks armored with scrap steel and packed with most of the remaining dynamite stockpiled at the abandoned mines. These vehicles were intended as a suicide attack. Ferrus hoped that at least one of the vehicles would be able to get close enough to detonate their explosives, each of which held over 10,000 pounds of dynamite and other explosives Instead, the 120mm tank shell punched through the frontal armor of the lead mining truck and detonated it at a distance of 2.2 kilometers from the NCR forces. The forces of the explosion set off the charges in the other vehicles instantly destroying all of them, hurling the smaller technicals a distance of up to 100 meters. With the small group of hostile vehicles eliminated, the NCR mechanized forces continued their advance against the Legion positions. As they reached a distance of about 2 kilometers from the fortified positions on the Legion positions, a battery of 15 Standard Artillery Rockets mounted on trucks and 15 howitzers placed in South Tuscon fired on the fortifications on the slag heaps, in a short barrage, in which several dozen shells and over 100 rockets landed on the defenses. This barrage disabled most of the Legion heavy guns in the position, most of which were repurposed howitzers used as improvised anti-tank guns. As soon as the barrage ended, the NCR forces continued their advance. The NCR tanks and IFVs began firing on the surviving positions from a range of about 2 kilometers using high explosive shells. At a distance of about 1000 meters, the NCR infantry dismounted from their trucks and APCs and advanced under the covering fire of the armor. By 0720 hours, the NCR infantry were advancing on the slag heap. While many of the Legion defenders were killed by the NCR armored and artillery support, at least 50 or so remained in position. While some pockets of Legion troops surrendered, others fought fiercely to the last man, killing 23 and wounding another 32 NCR infantry, and destroying an APC and damaging two more APCs and a tank. The total Legion losses, including losses from both artillery fire and direct combat are estimated 61 KIA, assuming about 100 defenders being placed on the slag heaps (the exact numbers are unclear as many bodies were mangled beyond recognition or buried by collapses of sections of the loose slag under fire). With the slag heap cleared by 0730, NCR troops were able quickly secure the North Pit with little resistance. Evacuation of the slaves held in the pit would begin by 1000 hours, after the immediate surrounding areas was cleared. With the North Pit captured, the right flank of the NCR mechanized forces attacked the pre-war town of Sahuarita, which was surrounded by farms worked by Legion slaves, still watered in part using surviving pre-war wells. With most of the undermanned Legion forces defending high ground at the slag heap north of the North Pit, only about 40 guards were left in Sahuarita proper. The first NCR forces arrived at 0730 hours to find the Legion forces occupying the town under siege by a slave revolt. According to testimony of surviving slaves, when they saw the large NCR and Brotherhood advancing, they attempted to execute the slaves, but lacked the manpower to round them up, and simply fired on them from from the watch towers. Legion troops outside the watchtowers were quickly overrun, as were two of the watch towers, which were set on fire by rebel slaves armed with Molotov cocktails. The last holdouts, armed with a machine gun in the central watchtower forced the rebel slaves to stay in cover from their line of fire until NCR troops arrived and the tower was destroyed by a tank shell. In the incident, 61 slaves and all 40 Legionaries in Sahuarita were killed. Most of the Legionaries were actually killed before the NCR arrived, overrun and killed by rebel slaves armed mostly with farm implements and sometime Molotov cocktails, but numbering over 300. By 800 hours, the town of Sahuarita was cleared. The South Pit With both the North and West Pits secured, NCR and Brotherhood forces advanced on the South Pit, the last of the three open pit mines in Legion control, from the west and north. The 40 or so Legion guards defending the pit retreated back to the town of Green Valley proper, where they made a stand along with the rest of remaining Legion forces in the city, numbering about 150 in total. The NCR and Brotherhood forces secured the pit without resistance. A small group of NCR troops stayed behind to secure the pit, while most of the allied forces advanced to the south and east. A company of NCR tanks and mechanized infantry maneuvered south of the city of Green Valley, cutting off Interstate 40 and blocking the main avenue of Legion retreat. Taking the Town Center With the Legion effectively surrounded, NCR armored and mechanized forces advanced on Green Valley from the north and South, while the Brotherhood of Steel advanced from the east. At a 0900 hours, the allied forces had encountered the forward Legion defenders, taking fire from long-abandoned houses and buildings on the fringe of the city. The 150 or so remaining Legion forces had few heavy weapons, rendering their fire largely ineffective, while the unfortified structures were easily destroyed by tanks shells and hand-held rockets and mini-nukes. As the outer margins of the city were destroyed, the surviving Legionaries were pushed further into the city. The response of the Legion holdouts varied. Many attempted to break out of the city through the weakest part of the blockading allied forces, to the east of the city. About 100 escaped before NCR mechanized forces could completely close the gap around the city. The Legion troops who escaped retreated into a series of arroyos running down from the Santa Rita Mountains to the west, and into the mountains themselves. By 0930 hours, however, the gap had been blocked off by NCR forces, and further Legion troops who attempted to retreat were captured or killed in combat. As NCR and Brotherhood forces pushed further into Green Valley, many of the Legion troops, who remained in place surrendered, realizing they were outmatched. In some cases, as soon as the more senior Legionaries were killed, the remaining troops surrendered immediately. In other case, however, pockets of Legion resistance fought on to the last man, doggedly refusing to surrender and sometimes even charging NCR and Brotherhood troops as soon as they ran out of ammunition. Aftermath The victory at Green Valley removed the last major obstacle on the NCR and allied advance towards Nogales, on the former US-Mexico border, and the next target of the NCR advance. Unlike Green Valley, Nogales was located in a major mountain pass, so mechanized forces were not able to maneuver and flank enemy forces as they had at Green Valley, meaning the battle would be far longer and costlier for the NCR and Allied forces. Category:Battles Category:Events